Alice's blog...

"Our new addition arrived on Saturday night, a little boy, we had a home birth which was just incredible!

I felt so in control and everything happened very quickly, 3.5 hours in total and only 20 mins of pushing.

My previous labour lasted for 24 hours so quite an improvement. I think this is partially due to the course.

I worried before that perhaps I hadn’t listened to it enough etc but I think even what I did was so worth it. I had the affirmations playing during the birth which was a wonderful gentle reminder to keep going and I could do this.

I was so pleased to get the birth I wanted, as this is our final child and our family is now complete.

We couldn’t afford a course in our area as they’re £250+ so this online version was so much more accessible for me.

Anyway, huge thanks to you, I’ll be recommending it to my other pregnant friends!"

Your imagination is a powerful tool. It can dictate, to some extent, how we perceive sensory information including images, sounds, tastes and feelings, including pain.

Re the laurel / yanny phenomenon... Altering the volume or pitch isn't a complete explanation, because with practise you can teach yourself to hear either word at will

Neuroscientist Gabriella Musacchia says that faced with confusing information, the brain decides within a fraction of a second what it will hear.

“We use statistical probability to make almost all of our perceptual decisions... you hear what you listen for."

Play the video and see what happens when you decide to hear either the words 'brainstorm' or 'green needle'.

So what's this got to do with birth?

Some mums report that they decided to interpret the sensations of birth not as pain, but as 'power', 'warmth', 'surges', 'rushes', 'waves' or a 'strong physical sensation that requires all of my focus'.

This isn't woolly wishful thinking. Evidence suggests that self-hypnosis does indeed seem to significantly alter the perception of pain.

I met Rae (and her beautiful cats) when she was an excited first-time mother in 2014; providing her with birth doula and hypnobirthing support...

"I have practised Alice's hypnobirthing techniques in every pregnancy and birth and I really cannot imagine labouring without them. I am so grateful that her knowledge and skill has helped me have joyous, wonderful births. I feel almost evangelical about spreading the word of hypnobirthing - it gives women back such a mind blowing power and trust in our bodies.

When I was unexpectedly induced because of pre-eclampsia with our first son, the affirmations helped me to stay grounded, happy and focused despite everything going on around me.

I thought my second birth was pretty amazing but when our beautiful third child, our second daughter, arrived everything was even more instinctive and relaxed.

Early and then active labour was at home in our bedroom... chatting as our 3 year old watched Thomas the Tank Engine and our shoe-obsessed 1 year old bossed me around trying to get me to put on leopard print wedges (!), while the cat got into the wardrobe and noisily insisted that I joined her and made a nest to deliver my kittens (!!) I smile so much when I think of it and I was also smiling lots at the time.

As my contractions intensified I used Alice's breathing techniques and continued to listen to the affirmation tracks downloaded to my phone. I felt calm and in control throughout and in a very short space of time (my labour was 4 hours from the first contraction to holding our daughter, something I attribute to hypnobirthing and letting my body take over completely), I was standing and breathing my daughter out... Something I had heard of but not experienced before in my other two births.

It's hard to put the memory I have of it into words, but my body knew exactly what to do and the hypnobirthing helped me be in the perfect mind space to let it. It was incredibly intense, with every inch of my body involved, but not in any way frightening, painful or even an effort really.

I felt the strongest I have ever felt in my life and very in-tune with my daughter too. We were working together for her to be born in the most beautiful way.

Lots of people also commented on how content my little ones seemed in their first few weeks and I'm sure that's down to the peacefulness that hypnobirthing gave me and them through labour.

Thank you Alice. A hundred times over. I am so, so grateful to have first met you and been able to use hynobirthing to bring my three babies into the world xx"

"My first two children were both induced a week late, and with the second one, it was an intense and painful experience. I was really wanting to avoid that again.

My third birth experience using hypno-birthing was pleasant and satisfying. Hypno-birthing really helped me remain calm, relaxed, and positive. I listened to your mp3s and the calming background music throughout the entire experience. When my labor kept stopping and going, it was frustrating, but I just listened to and repeated the affirmations that I had been practicing and it made me feel calm and empowered.

I did end up having pitocin and eventually an epidural, but the mp3s really helped me remain positive.

Thank you for helping me have this wonderful experience! This program is also perfect for parents that already have children. All the classes I found in my area were not only very expensive but were not conducive to parents that would have to find childcare one night a week for multiple months.

This program is affordable and nice because you can go through it at your own pace.

I made a collage of all the affirmations and put it on my wall where I saw it every morning when I woke up.

The only problem I had was staying awake through the hypno-birthing tracks. I tried it at different times of the day and in different places, it didn't matter, I woke up about 20 minutes after the track ended almost every time. I think it is because being pregnant with two kids is exhausting

It also takes up a lot of your spare time, however I feel it was totally worth it. I only started this in my third trimester, I may have gone even further without an epidural if I had started this at the beginning of my pregnancy.

It helped me keep a positive outlook during my pregnancy and during labor, I would recommend hypno-birthing to any new mom-to-be!"

"Our very heartfelt thanks to you for an excellent course. We really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. We feel closer on our journey to having our baby. We felt that your delivery was professional, yet personal and from the heart"Katy Bryce & Adam Weismann, Manaccan

Due to popular demand, I'm excited to announce my new hypnobirthing classes in Norwich and Norfolk!

Private home hypnobirthing workshops enable you and your birth partner(s) to explore hypnobirthing together in the comfort and convenience of your home, in an in-depth personalised way. Face-to-face sessions may also increase motivation and actively engage birth partners.

My hypnobirthing classes in Norfolk may be taken over one 4hr intensive or two separate 2+hr sessions. As it's a private class the content is straight to the point ~ we skip the fluff involved in group classes.

Everything you need is provided, including your full program of hypnobirthing MP3s, ongoing birth consultation, support and my online hypnobirthing guide.

The cost of hypnobirthing in Norwich or Norfolk is £275 including expenses. All areas are covered from Thetford to Hunstanton and Great Yarmouth.

No, this is an outdated idea. Evidence finds that hypnosis is a state of deep focus. You can be in hypnosis without feeling relaxed (watching a horror film) and you can be relaxed without being in hypnosis.

Relaxation is often used to help quieten your mind and enter hypnosis (it's super useful for much of the birth journey) but during transition and 2nd stage you might feel more energised than relaxed...

If you're able to keep focused you're in hypnosis, no matter how relaxed you are.

"I didn't do the course completely properly but I took on board the positivity and the science behind relaxing, which I had failed to fully absorb from doing NCT with my first baby.

I did go into labour with a completely different attitude to last time (when I was just terrified). I tried to do my own version of positive thinking and mentally telling my uterus it was doing a ‘good job’ on each contraction. This time was less painful and much faster. I felt much more connected to my body this time, like we were on the same team.

It was much less painful overall and I didn't have an epidural (but that is partly because it was crazy fast and the hospital was understaffed). I definitely think hypnobirthing made a huge difference to my birth experience and really helped me.

"Thanks so much for your great resources, my birth went as well as I could have hoped, and really was an amazing experience: a six hour, calm home birth

I had lots going on during my pregnancy including the serious illness of a family member, and had been worried that I hadn't been able to focus enough on my birth preparation for it to make a difference, but I'm convinced that the amount that I did manage practice really helped.

I had your birth affirmations playing throughout my labour, and found it invaluable in keeping me focused and relaxed ('accepting the sensations', 'handing control over to my body', keeping my body as 'floppy as a ragdoll'!) The midwives even commented on how relaxed I had been: they didn't examine me until I was already 10cms dilated, and the baby arrived about 20 minutes later - I gave one push and then just kept breathing and out he came in a few minutes!

I feel completely empowered by the whole experience, and I think about it often in my day to day life with a smile. I really think I will draw on the mental and physical resources I now know I have to get me through other challenges in my life in the future. My little boy, Rio, is also a very tranquil little soul and he's already sleeping through the night (at 11 weeks!) which might have something to do with his gentle arrival, who knows?!"

"For my first baby, I wanted a drug-free birth and was able to have one thanks to the techniques I learned and practiced in this hypnobirthing course, as well as having a doula.

I felt that my birth moved fairly quickly because I was able to just be in the moment and not feel stressed or anxious. I usually have a lot of anxiety and without hypnobirthing and a doula to help me remember the relaxation and breathing techniques, I think the birth would’ve been much longer and harder...however, I was able to deliver my big baby girl, Claire Valerie (9lbs!) in just a few hours with no complications or interventions.

I would definitely recommend hypnobirthing to anyone hoping to have a natural and more relaxed birth!"

Claire in Italy has a tattoo on her back where an epidural would be sited...

"After meeting with an anaesthesiologist at 30 weeks pregnant and discovering that I was ineligible for an epidural, I actively searched for a program to help me navigate the birthing process, and was SO HAPPY to have discovered hypnobirthing and especially this program!

I meditated once or twice a day and rehearsed positions with my birth partner, which proved critical to getting through 18 hours of medically induced labor.

I'm not a super proactive person, but I found these lessons extremely manageable to complete as they were not too long, plus they kept me 100% calm and in control as my due date approached.

Having listened to the recordings together, my husband coached me through the breathing techniques to cope with the waves, and I was able to rest fully and completely during the 2 minute pauses between waves, which was key to avoiding a cesarean.

At the end, using the pushing breathing techniques, I pushed out my "little" baby boy (9lbs / 4.1kg, 52cm) in 3 contractions and felt like a superhero through the whole process!"

"Hi Alice, I am happy to report I had a fantastic labour. It progressed quickly - in the car I was in active labour - thankfully I learned your visualisation techniques and other coping mechanisms so I put these into place. Had I not done this I don’t think I would have coped as well and labour would not have been as smooth/quick.

I was able to manage the contractions with ease. I arrived at the hospital and gave birth 15 minutes later with a few pushes and a little gas and air.

I have recommended your hypnobirthing to others and am very grateful for the practice, it was money well spent. This was my second birth, the first one was very long and painful, resulting in a forceps delivery so I was so glad this one went as well as it did. Thank you!"

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